Campaigning has officially begun for the first mayoral elections in Yerevan in nearly two decades, setting the stage for another, potentially tense showdown between Armenia’s leadership and main opposition force.
Armenia’s main opposition alliance has added its voice to growing skepticism in Yerevan about President Serzh Sarkisian’s continuing diplomatic overtures to Turkey.
Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian said on Friday that his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party decided not to contest next month’s mayoral elections in Yerevan over his objections.
A senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) voiced reservations on Monday about President Serzh Sarkisian’s assurances that Armenia would only benefit from the possible failure of its fence-mending talks with Turkey.
Police searched over the weekend the Yerevan apartments of two activists connected with a fugive opposition leader wanted by Armenian law-enforcement authorities for his role in last year’s post-election unrest.
(Saturday, April 11) “No matter how hard the government propagandists try, they just can’t present any concrete result of Serzh Sarkisian’s one-year rule,” writes “Haykakan Zhamanak.”
